The present invention relates to golf club heads in particular to club heads having ball striking faces with improved configurations.
Most iron wood type club heads with vertical and/or angular grooves are known in the prior art. These arrangements have been marketed with limited success. Recently, manufacturers have introduced iron club faces which provide courser finishes. Examples are face inserts that include diamond particles or other comparable materials that are bonded or fused to the club face. The purpose is to provide greater traction between the golf club face and golf ball creating greater backspin resulting in a golf ball stopping at or near where it lands on a putting surface rather than having excessive backspin or forward movement upon landing.
However, this type of club face surface is quickly worn away by repeated ball contact, quickly reducing its ability to apply the gripping action to produce the backspin as originally intended. This requires that a golfer must have a particular club, for example a wedge or sand wedge, replaced or refinished in order to regain the original qualities.
Traditionally horizontal grooves are used on the club faces of conventional iron type club heads to produce backspin thereby providing the gripping action necessary to stop a golf ball on a putting surface. Generally such grooves are V-shaped or U-shaped and are symmetrically formed perpendicular to the club face. Punch marks have also been used on various designs for both iron and wood type club heads. Punch marks are often used in combination with other groove structures. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. D-101,108 to Ellingham, and U.S. Pat. Nos. D-190,034, D-190,430 and D-192,366 to Penna.
The present invention uniquely combines the use of punch marks and grooves on the ball striking face of iron and wood type club heads. The use of punch marks of the ball striking face provides more available mass closer to the precise point where ball contact occurs. This construction creates greater energy transfer at the precise point of ball contact resulting in an unusually solid interaction between the ball and the club face resulting in greater feel being transmitted back to the golfer.
The present invention uses punch marks which are wider and deeper than standard grooves and are symmetrically formed with respect to an axis perpendicular to the ball striking face and also punch marks which are angularly oriented into the ball striking face at an upward or downward angular orientation.
In preferred embodiments, arrays of punch marks in various geometrical configurations are located proximate the center of the ball striking face of the golf club and surrounded by a series of hyphenated vertical grooves to enhance energy transfer and greater gripping action from the curved edges of the punch marks to a golf ball when it is struck by the club head of the invention. Other embodiments contemplate the use of horizontal grooves, both continuous and hyphenated, in combination with a punch mark array. Still other embodiments contemplate the use of punch marks which are disposed at an angle with respect to the ball striking face providing greater gripping action because of the angled and curved edges of the marks.
The present invention uses punch mark arrays in combination with various groove configurations on wood and metal wood type golf club heads.
Among the objects of the present invention are the provision of a ball striking face configuration which imparts greater energy to a golf ball during the execution of a golf swing.
Other objects, advantages and salient features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferred, but non-limiting, embodiment of the subject invention.